Posted to News on 26th Sep 2006, 16:06
miniBaseboard: extremely compact baseboard for ETX 3.0
Kontron introduces the ETX® miniBaseboard, an extremely compact ETX baseboard for ETX 3.0-compliant designs, with a mere 130 mm x 155 mm footprint. It serves as a universal development platform for ETX 3.0 modules and is completely backward compatible with its ETX predecessors. All of the state-of-the-art interfaces are dedicated, which accelerates application testing on this target platform with freely scalable processor performance and so saves time and expense. OEM customers also can use the Kontron ETX miniBaseboard as a standard product for their end applications. As with all of Kontron's ETX products, OEM customers benefit from long-term availability, robust construction, function-tested design, and are highly future-proof - all thanks to ETX 3.0 compliance.
At 130 mm x 155 mm, the new, RoHS-compliant miniBaseboard is barely larger than an ETX module (95 x 125 mm). As a result, it can be integrated as an extremely compact baseboard in almost any embedded application, easily and simply. The integrated communication interfaces are: 1x 32 bit PCMCIA slot, 4x USB, 1x 32 bit PCI slot, 4 serial interfaces, and 2x Ethernet interfaces with 10/100/1000 or 10/100 Mb.
Moreover, storage media can connect to ETX 3.0-compliant ETX modules via 2 SATA interfaces. Furthermore, one CF card slot and two IDE interfaces are offered. Flat panels are controlled via a standardized LVDS interface. Additional graphics are connected through a VGA output (SUB-D). 1x LPT (SUB-D), 2x PS/2, and stereo audio I/O via a 3.5mm plug complete the feature set.
About ETX 3.0
Compared to earlier specifications, ETX 3.0 offers an additional 2x Serial ATA, with no change to the pins for the ETX plug. Kontron and the members of the ETX Industrial Group (www.etx-ig.org) support the new ETX 3.0 specification and are committed to keeping ETX viable until at least 2010, offering a reliable and pure computer-on-module form factor for embedded solutions. Additional modules for dual-core and other processors from Intel®, AMD®, and VIA® will come onto the market during the course of this year. A copy of the ETX 3.0 specification is available for download online at that ETX Industrial Group website (http://www.etx-ig.org) and from your local Kontron office.
